Crime in Long Beach, California

Long Beach's crime rate

There were 13,666 crimes reported in Long Beach, California in 2019, the most recent year crime data is available. Adjusted for population, the city’s annual crime rate is 2,920 incidents for every 100,000 people.

How does Long Beach compare?

Long Beach has a higher overall crime rate than the vast majority of U.S. cities. For comparison, the national total crime rate is 2,489 incidents for every 100,000 people.

Long Beach's overall crime rate is 5% higher than the overall crime rate in California. Statewide, there were 1,095,445 crimes reported in 2019, or 2,772 for every 100,000 people.

What types of crimes are being committed?

The FBI's crime rate includes seven crime categories: three property crimes -- larceny, burglary, and motor vehicle theft, and four violent crimes -- aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and murder.

Property crime

The vast majority of crimes in America are property crimes, accounting for 85% of total crimes in 2019. In Long Beach, however, property crimes account for only about 83% of all offenses.

Despite accounting for a smaller than average share of total offenses, property crime is more prevalent in Long Beach than it is nationwide. There were 11,297 property crimes in Long Beach in 2019, or 2,414 for every 100,000 residents. Meanwhile, the national property crime rate is 2,110 incidents per 100,000 people.

Larceny

Larceny is by far the most common type of property crime in the U.S. It is also the most commonly committed type of property crime in Long Beach. There were 6,754 larcenies reported in Long Beach in 2019, or 1,443 for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, the larceny rate is 1,550 per 100,000.

Burglary

There were 2,185 break-ins reported in Long Beach in 2019, or 467 for every 100,000 residents. For reference, there were 341 reported burglaries for every 100,000 people nationwide in 2019.

Motor Vehicle Theft

Across the United States, the annual motor vehicle theft rate is 220 for every 100,000 people. In Long Beach, meanwhile, there were 2,358 motor vehicle thefts in 2019, or 504 for every 100,000 people.

Violent crime

Violent crime accounts for a relatively small share of crimes nationwide. These offenses, which are generally more egregious than property crimes, account for about 15% of the nearly 8.2 million offenses reported across the U.S. in 2019. In Long Beach, however, violent offenses account for a larger 17% share of all reported crime.

At 506 incidents for every 100,000 people, the violent crime rate in Long Beach is above the national violent crime rate of 379 offenses per 100,000 people. Law enforcement in Long Beach reported a total of 2,369 violent crimes in 2019.

Aggravated Assault

Aggravated assault is by far the most common type of violent crime reported in the U.S. It is also the most commonly reported violent offense in Long Beach. There were 1,128 aggravated assaults reported in Long Beach in 2019, or 241 for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, the rate is slightly higher, standing at 250 aggravated assaults per 100,000 people.

Robbery

Robbery is the second most common type of violent crime in America. There were 958 robberies reported in Long Beach in 2019, a rate of 205 robberies for every 100,000 residents. For comparison, the national robbery rate was 82 per 100,000 in 2019.

Rape

There were 249 rapes reported in Long Beach in 2019, or 53 for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, there were 139,815 rapes in 2019, a rate of 43 per 100,000 people.

Murder

There were 34 homicides committed in the city in 2019. Adjusted for population, the murder rate in Long Beach is 7.3 murders for every 100,000 people, higher than the national murder rate of 5 per 100,000 people.

Long Beach compared to other cities in California

Long Beach has a higher crime rate than the vast majority of all comparable cities in California. To be considered comparable, a city must have a complete 2019 FBI crime report and population of 5,000 or more.

Here are all comparable cities ranked by total crime rate. Click any bar or city name to see more about crime in that city.

Click here to see a list of all city crime pages.

Click here to see a list of all state crime pages.

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